The Game
by ilostmyplace
Summary: It had been an accident, the game we started that is, remember? GaaraHinata.


So here is a little winter one-shot, no not Christmas, just winter, I'm still working on the Christmas one-shots. Just a small Au-verse cute and a bit fluffy sort of one shot. Hope this holds you over until I can update some of my other stories. Also I have a few more one-shots I'm working on.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

**Title:** The Game

**Rating:** T

**Type: **One-shot

**Authoress:** Ilostmyplace

-

Do you remember the game we use to play? Way back when, when your mother hadn't died, and I had been brought to Konoha after losing my uncle? I was here for a little less than a month, back when the snow lay thick on the ground, like a heavy blanket silencing everything, while white flakes fell constantly at night. It had been an accident, the game we started that is, remember? It started the first day we ran into each other, well more like tracked each other down. I don't remember what you had been doing, but I had been in the forest because I wasn't welcome any where else at the time. I clearly remember seeing your little feet print, a bit smaller than my own, pressed deeply into the snow that came up to my own knees. I remember following them, not knowing that in turn you had come across my foot prints and were following them as well.

It's not quiet clear to me how long we crossed each others foot print lines, or how long we searched, I remember I could hardly tell yours from mine as our accidental game came to an end. We actually bumped into each other and fell down into the cold snow, which did little to pad or crash. I hadn't heard you coming I was so absorbed in finding you and I know you hadn't heard me, it was obvious by the way you blushed and apologized like crazy. I didn't say anything to you, just got up and offered to help you up, that's when you smiled at me. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel anything, the smile was so genuine, made me feel so real and not like a monster, made me forget what my uncle said.

You told me your name and I gave you mine, other than that we said very little. I learned you lived in the compound not far away, and had been out because everyone was running around getting something for a ceremony ready. I was there with my father, which wasn't a lie, but I didn't tell you all the details, like how he tried to kill me. Do you remember how we kept our accidental game going? After we said good bye we came back the very next day, our prints erased by newly fallen snow, like they had never been there. We started looking for each other again, using only the foot prints in the snow, we found each other a bit faster that time.

You started building a little snowman as we sat there, still fairly exhausted from the game. I started to build one too, I stopped halfway through because my fingers hurt and were going numb, you gasped at how bright red they were. I remember how you shyly took my bigger hands in your small ones, I bet my hands are still bigger, blushing the darkest red known to man you blew on my numbing fingers, warming them up. I remember the tingle that went through my body, actually having another living person touching me. You then gave me a pair of extra gloves, I wish I could say I still had them, but they've been lost for a few years now.

We continued this accidental game, do you remember? Everyday for the rest of the time I was there, we came out and searched for each other, planting fake tracks, or simply going over where we had walked before. One day I remember you didn't show up, that day had been no fun and very lonely, I sat by myself and did nothing. You came the next day though, and said you had been making something. That day you gave me a red stuffed flower. It was messily made, the stitching was out of place, and the flower its self was a bit deformed, a little stuffing coming out; you said that I reminded you of the flower you tried to make and that you didn't have a real one to give me.

The last day I spent with you we took our game a step further, it was no longer tracking each other but a game of hide and seek. Normally I was the seeker. No longer did we just play in the forest with it's invisible boundaries, but we adventurously went further and further, expanding our territory. I found you in a cave, hiding in the faint shadows it provided, though the cave wasn't very deep and the sun was shining directly in it. We rested there, sitting on the cold rocks that jutted up from the ground, at least they weren't wet with slushy snow. I told you I was leaving later that day, you looked about ready to cry, though you didn't, you said it wasn't proper for a heiress to cry. I said I'd be back one day, though I didn't know when. You told me you'd look for my foot prints in the snow every winter.

I know you saw me at the Exams, back when the snake was using me and we attacked Konoha. Did you recognize me right away? I know I didn't know who you were at first. It's been a few years since the exam, I've been in Konoha constantly, keeping peace treaties, talking about opening easier trades and the like. I haven't ever been around when it snows though and I never could bring my self to seek you out, maybe things will be different now? Will you come find me?

-

The red head was pulled out of his thoughts as a twig snapped somewhere, but there was no movement. His tracks were deliberately placed in the snow, clear and deep, he wondered if she had forgotten about him? It had certainly been long enough, he probably would have forgotten her if the flower wasn't there to always remind him. Pulling out the object from his pants pocket, he gingerly looked it over. The fabric was worn, a few threads had broken, and there were some small stains. He ran his thumb over the faded red and shook his head, he was being stupid, of course she wouldn't show. If she hadn't forgot him she probably didn't want anything to do with him.

Walking to a rock that jutted up from the ground of the cave, he mildly noted it was the same rock he had sat on when he was little. There was time to kill, he didn't have to see the Hokage until later in the day, and he really didn't want to walk around with the nervous guide they'd stuck him with. Lazily he played with his stuffed flower, he at one time had despised the thing, back when he had thought love was nothing but pain and suffering, that caring for someone was nothing more than a foolish idea. Before he had met the blonde he now called friend. His glassy green-blue eyes looked out onto the white ground, only to be disappointed that there was no lavender eyed beauty to be seen.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling a little tired, he had been up most of the night. It was stupid, he had constantly felt his stomach churn uncomfortably, all because he was nervous over some woman. But these thoughts ceased almost right away as he heard it, the light crunching of snow, as if someone were trying to be very quiet, but the snow gave them away. His heart leapt clear into his throat, though he continued to have his eyes closed and looked composed as he did any other time. The person grew ever closer and he stopped himself from looking, this could be part of his imagination and if it was he wanted his imagination to run wild.

The foot steps finally stopped, there was no sound now, like the person that was walking towards him had completely disappeared or never existed to begin with. Then her voice rang out, like a shot from a gun. "Gaara." His name fell softly from her lips, holding a slight quiver to show she was still just a tad timid, though it seemed she'd grown out of it for the most part. Opening his eyes slowly she was right in front of him, standing on the bored of snow that faded in to rock. She was so different from before, her hair wasn't short anymore, she also wasn't a stick in an over sized jacket.

Her body was defiantly that of a woman's, he could just barley see the out line of her hips and the swell of her breasts under the purple and white jacket, along with thicker black pants. A Konoha forehead protector was tied securely around her neck, while bluish purple locks fell over her shoulders and framed it. "Hinata." Her eyes widened a bit when he said her name, he remembered, it wasn't some coincidence that he was there. She couldn't bring herself to move as he stood, slowly walking towards her, stopping at the line of snow and rock.

In his left hand the stuffed flower she gave him was held securely as he lifted his hand and offered the item to her. Slowly she lifted her right hand and placed it over the stuffed flower and his left. Things seemed to go in slow motion then, her pale hand slightly holding onto the flower as he started to lower his hand away. She refused to allow him to fully let go of the item, to give it back to her. With her left hand she grabbed onto the bottom of his left, trapping his hand and the flower between both of hers. Hinata slowly raised his hand, turning it so that the flower rest in the palm of her right and the back of his left hand was in plain view, save for what was covered by her own hand.

She bent her head and pressed her lips to the back of his hand, causing his eyes to widen and his heart to hammer fiercely. The kiss was innocent and still felt terribly intimate as she looked up at him, his free right hand coming to cup her left cheek. "It's been a while, but you've finally come back, and I've found you." She said softly smiling almost shyly, putting an end to their game.


End file.
